Cha'ari'kweh (cha-arr-ee-kway)

Cha'ari'kweh, the Cha'ari language, is a swooping, lyrical language with a beautiful, tonal quality. It incorporates an incredible variety of sounds and relies heavily on microtonal variance to impart meaning.

Qualities

When spoken by and among cha'ari, the language sounds like rapid, complex birdsong. Loan words taken from cha'ari'kweh are usually simplified and slowed down to make them pronouncable. One of the most notable qualities of the language is that important word stems for survival, such as "danger", "help", and "run", have easy and sharp whistling qualities such that, with enough emphasis, they can be heard for miles around.

Structure

Cha'ari'kweh words are typically formed from small mono- or duosyllabic stems, which can be strung together to create more complex terminology. The most common such conjunctions eventually become a recognizable part of the language, but new words or phrases can be strung together ad lib and be understood by those fluent in the language. For example, scree'reh is formed from the word stems scree for "danger" and reh for "beast".
While the modern language is formed primarily from strings of conjuctions, older or more established phrases may be contracted with smoother liasions, such as "Roh'kah'cha'a'ari" being simplified to "Rohkaa'ri"
Conjugation is typically implied through microtonal shifts that are difficult to perceive to the untrained ear, which can make the language seem primitive to those who don't understand it.

Writing

While modern Cha'ari'kweh is written in Low Atlantean script, when it is written at all, it does have its own historical writing system. Records are typically written in hard materials such as stone or untreated bark. The script is very angular and sharp-looking, having been created around usability when scratching with one's talons. The system is generally deemed too complex to bother with, even among the cha'ari, who find it easier to simply keep records in other languages. It is mostly used in the present day in its even more complicated calligraphic form, where it is applied in artwork or traditional sign-making or murals.
Because the language is so reliant on tone to impart meaning, it is considered a high-context language when written in Low Atlantean - the reader must be able to infer large amounts of information, or have a great deal of pre-existing knowledge of the subject, to have any hope of accurately translating it.

Use

The language is spoken primarily among cha'ari while in The Rookery, or in groups which are comprised wholly of cha'ari. The difficulty involved in speaking the language, as well as its restrictive writing system, have historically prevented its spread, which was all the more compounded by the ease with which cha'ari adopt the native languages of others.
Outside the Barrier Mountains, Cha'ari'kweh is most often used for privacy between cha'ari, as a code language, or for its loan words, which can be found in the dialects of anywhere that the cha'ari have any sizable presence. The combination of sharpness, clarity, and ease of use in their survival word stems make them popular loan words in other languages. Cha'ari curses are also popular loan words for the same reasons.

Words and Stems

Cha'ari: From the stems cha for "wing" and ari for "community". Originally used to simply mean "people", over time it has come to be the name of the Cha'ari as a whole.
Rohkaa'ri: Simplified from the stems roh for "home", kah for "mountain", and cha'ari for "the people". Sometimes translated simply as "home of the people", it is the Cha'ari'kweh name for the Barrier Mountains
Awk'scree'reh: From the stems awk for "elder", scree for "danger", and reh for "beast". Awk'scree'reh are near-mythical scree'reh known for their incredible size, speed, and visciousness.
Tu'ee'tah: From the stems tu for "empty", ee for "many", and tah for "to speak". Refers to a person who gossips, spreads rumors, or is known to make empty threats or promises. Typically simplified to "twitter" when used as a loan word.
Coo'chik'tiik: From the stems coo for "beloved", chik for "friend", and tiik for "tree". "Beloved friend of the trees" is a pejorative term among the cha'ari, implying one is too dense to fly above the trees, instead staying low to the ground and constantly crashing into them. Appears as the loan word "chicktee", which is more simply used to mean "idiot".
Koo'ee'a: From the stems koo for "flight", ee for "many", and a, a suffix which denotes its word as a trade, art, or other form of employ. Generally refers to one who travels vast distances in their work, but colloquially is used to refer to Cha'ari who leverage their ability to fly for exclusive work in mixed populations. Most Cha'ari avoid the term, as its widespread use has led to associations with vagrancy, preferring instead to use more specific language. It is a false friend of the word "courier", which can lead to unfortunate misunderstandings.
Hoo: Stem used to connect titles to names. For example, if Wir'chook were introducing himself as a carpenter (tiik'a) of the village of Chi'kah'roh, he would give his name as Wir'chook'hoo'tiik'a'hoo'chi'kah'roh. In practice, appending more than one title is rarely done unless intended as a joke or mockery, unless it is strictly necessary to differentiate between two identically-named Cha'ari.

Names

Cha'ari'kweh names are as varied as the Cha'ari themselves, and while they may occassionally have a specific meaning, it is far more common for them to be unique sounds, whose only meaning is to refer to the cha'ari with that name.

Examples of names without meaning

• Cah'lum
• Wir'chook
• Ree'kee
• Hoo'shik

Examples of names with meaning

• Kweh'a, literally "word artisan", meaning one with a beautiful voice